


Flynnagan Rider was a ss…swashbuckling rrr…rooo…rogue…

by nachocheese26



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Mentioned Lance Strongbow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-02-23 07:01:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23174221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nachocheese26/pseuds/nachocheese26
Summary: The letters always jump and move and Eugene doesn't understand why he even needs to know how to read when he can't even read those stupid baby books. But patience and encouragement from a trusted adult can go a long way.Exploring a head canon in which Eugene is dyslexic.
Relationships: Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel
Comments: 4
Kudos: 66





	Flynnagan Rider was a ss…swashbuckling rrr…rooo…rogue…

**Author's Note:**

> Instead of working on all the WIPs I have, I decided to write a one-shot! Anyways, I had a lot of fun with this. Hope you lovelies enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Let me know what you think!

The door was closed. Eugene stared at it for just a moment, before stepping forward and peeking in through the keyhole.

Mr. Hughes was in there with Sister Beatriz. And his face was redder than Eugene had ever seen it before.

He moved away from the keyhole and pressed his ear against the door to better hear what Mr. Hughes was saying.

“I work with five year-olds that can read better than him! He can’t even make it through these simple infant books and he’s already nine years-old! That boy is an idiot! Nothing but a life of crime awaits him!” Mr. Hughes yelled.

Eugene flinched at the words, even if it wasn’t the first time he had heard something like that from Mr. Hughes.

“I understand your frustration, Mr. Hughes,” Sister Beatriz started, her voice sounding so much calmer than Mr. Hughes. But Eugene could still pick up the restrained anger in her voice. “Eugene does struggle more than the other children, but that does not give you any right to say those things about him. He is a brilliant child with a bright future ahead of him.”

Mr. Hughes scoffed.

“Now what exactly is it that has you so upset?”

“Do you know what he claims this page says?”

Eugene squeezed his eyes shut. Oh, he was going to be in big trouble. And Sister Beatriz was going to have to punish him and that would mean he would miss Arnwaldo’s hopscotch tournament tomorrow and he wouldn’t talk to Eugene for a whole week if he did miss it and Eugene didn’t want to go a whole week without Arnwaldo talking to him.

“He claims it says, ‘Jane feeds ducks so they can shit on Mr. Hughes.’”

Sister Beatriz gave a prolonged sigh.

Oh yeah, Eugene was definitely going to miss the hopscotch tournament.

“Mr. Hughes, Eugene will obviously face consequences for his behavior, but please remember. He’s still a child. One that requires different attention than the other children and-“

“No,” Mr. Hughes interrupted. “I will not be giving a child like him special attention. I refuse to work with him.”

“But the agreement has always been that you would help all the children.”

“Not him. I will gladly continue helping the other children with their reading, but not him. If you want to continue receiving my help, then those are my conditions.”

“Very well. I will be sure and send your final payment at the end of the week.”

Mr. Hughes began spluttering.

“Thank you, Mr. Hughes for your help these last ten years. But I can’t quite bring myself to say I will miss your help.”

“Well. It seems you’ve made up your mind. But mark my words, Sister Beatriz, that boy does not belong here. Children like him belong in workhouses.”

“Do you need help finding the door, Mr. Hughes?”

Mr. Hughes began spluttering again. But Eugene didn’t try piecing together his words.

He could only focus on what he told Sister Beatriz.

That Eugene belonged in a workhouse.

He remembered seeing one during an outing Sister Beatriz organized. It looked dark and tiny and the men coming out of there were huge and scary looking and smelled bad.

Would Sister Beatriz really send him there?

Eugene was so caught up in his thoughts, he didn’t hear Mr. Hughes walking towards the door until it was too late.

The door opened and Eugene fell forward just as Mr. Hughes took a step.

The older man tripped over Eugene and for a moment, they were a pile of limbs.

Eugene sat up quickly though, backing up a little to stare wide-eyed at Mr. Hughes.

Mr. Hughes was fuming. And for a moment, Eugene thought he might raise a hand to hit the back of his head.

But he just sneered at Eugene, collected himself, and walked away.

“ _Ay mijo, que voy hacer contingo?_ ”

Eugene turned around to see Sister Beatriz looking down at him with her hands on her hips. He suddenly felt a lump in his throat that he couldn’t swallow and now his eyes were burning with tears. He shrugged at her question, understanding perfectly well what she was asking him. “Just don’t send me to a workhouse, please? Arnwaldo would be really sad if I left him here all alone.” Of course, there were many other reasons, but maybe if he threw in Arnwaldo, Sister Beatriz would listen.

Sister Beatriz knelt down to his level. “Eugene, I would never send you to a workhouse.”

Eugene felt like he could breathe again.

“You heard everything, didn’t you?”

_“That boy is an idiot! Nothing but a life of crime awaits him!”_

A tear slipped from his eye. Eugene roughly wiped it away and rubbed at his eyes to prevent more tears from falling. He didn’t look at Sister Beatriz or answer her question.

But Sister Beatriz seemed to guess what the answer was.

She clicked her tongue and opened her arms. “ _Ay, mijo_ , come here.”

Eugene threw himself at her, wrapping his small arms around her neck and burying his face in her shoulder as his body shook with all the tears he couldn’t back anymore.

She rubbed his back and whispered comforting words to him. And after a while, she pulled back a little and offered him a small smile.

Eugene rubbed his nose with the back of his hand, barely noticing the amount of snot he rubbed across his hand.

Sister Beatriz managed to conceal a grimace, pulling out a handkerchief and properly wiping Eugene’s nose and his hands. “Eugene, you know what he said isn’t true, right?”

Eugene looked down. He didn’t know. Because he couldn’t read those stupid baby books. Maybe Mr. Hughes was right.

“Eugene, look at me.” Sister Beatriz cupped his chin and gently lifted his face to look into his eyes. “Nothing Mr. Hughes said about you was true. You are a brilliant child. You’re the only one in the whole orphanage who’s picked up Spanish by just spending time with me. You take things apart and put them back together to make them work even better. But more important than any of those things, you are kind.

“When everyone was afraid of Arnwaldo when he first came because he was so much bigger than the other kids, who was his first friend? You. Whenever one of the younger kids has a nightmare, who do they come running to? You.”

Eugene let out a shuddering breath.

“Do you believe me?”

He wanted to. He really wanted to. But Mr. Hughes words were still so fresh in his mind and were replaying over and over and over.

Eugene nodded. Because maybe if he told himself the same thing over and over again, he would eventually believe it.

Sister Beatriz smiled again, lightly pinching his chin before standing up. “Come over here with me,” she said, guiding him to the small table in her study and sitting him down. She sat next to him and pulled out the same book he had been reading with Mr. Hughes.

Eugene felt his tears welling up again, this time with tears of frustration. He didn’t want to read this stupid baby book.

Sister Beatriz opened the book to the page he had been stuck on. The second page of the book. “Can you read this page for me?

Eugene pouted. “I don’t want to,” he mumbled.

“Why?”

“Because it’s for babies.”

“Oh? Then why did you tell Mr. Hughes it said a very grown-up word on this page?”

Eugene ducked his head.

“How about this. How many words does this page have?”

Eugene glanced at the book. “Four.”

“Good. That’s right. Now can you tell me what the words say?”

Eugene stared at the four words. He stared and stared and willed the letters to stop moving and flipping around and jumping. He rubbed his eyes, hoping that would help.

It didn’t.

So he glanced up at the picture. “Jane feeds the ducks.”

“Good. Very good. That’s exactly what it says.”  
  
Eugene didn’t think so, but if Sister Beartiz said so…

She got up and pulled out another book. Another baby book. She opened it and laid it before him.

Except now, she was covering the picture.

“How many words are here?”

“Three.”

“Good. Now what does it say?”

Just like with the other book, the letters jumped around and wouldn’t stay still. He squinted his eyes, opened them wider, tilted his head, anything to make the letters into words.

But nothing was working.

He tilted his head to see if maybe he could see the picture underneath her hand if he angled his head just right…

Nope. Nothing.

Eugene looked down at his hands and shrugged his shoulders.

Sister Beatriz hummed, before getting up again, pulling down a different book and setting it down in front of him.

Eugene stared at the book. It was huge. Definitely not a baby book. It didn’t even look like it had any pictures and there wasn’t even a picture on the cover.

Did she expect him to read this book? How could he if he couldn’t even read one of those stupid baby books?

Sister Beatriz placed her finger under the gold letters that were on the cover. “ _The Tales of Flynnagan Rider._ ”

Maybe she would be the one reading to him instead.

She opened the book to the first page.

Eugene’s mouth dropped a little at all the words on the page. There were so many.

She placed her finger on the page again, directly under the words at the very top. “Chapter one…”

* * *

The book was amazing! Eugene had no idea books could be so much fun!

Sister Beatriz read to him for a whole hour. Eugene didn’t want her to stop, but she said that she had to because it was time for dinner.

Eugene hadn’t even realized he was hungry.

She told him to come to her study at the same time tomorrow and they would keep reading.

“But Arnwaldo’s having his hopscotch tournament tomorrow,” Eugene reminded her.

“I know.”

“I can’t miss it.”

Sister Beatriz looked at him. “You’re going to miss it.”

“But-!”

“Don’t think I forgot about what you told Mr. Hughes. There still needs to be consequences.”

“Aw, but Sister Beatriz-!”

“It’s your choice. You can sit here with me and we read, or you help Sister Veronica in the kitchen. Either way, you aren’t going to make it to Arnwaldo’s tournament.”

Eugene groaned and protested and pouted, but Sister Beatriz would not be moved.

He told Arnwaldo at dinner and, just as Eugene had predicted, he stopped talking to Eugene.

But that night when they were all supposed to be sleeping, Arnwaldo poked his head up to the top bunk where Eugene slept and poked him until he was awake.

“Did you really make Mr. Hughes quit?” he asked in his version of a whisper.

Eugene grinned and nodded his head. “And then I made him fall too when he was leaving.”

Arnwaldo smiled. “Cool!”

Eugene didn’t mention what Mr. Hughes said about him though. He wanted to pretend like he never heard those words.

He went with Sister Beatriz again the next day and the day after that, until a whole week later they finally finished the book.

Eugene couldn’t believe it was done. He wanted to hear more about the swashbuckling rogue! He was so cool and had a lot of friends and there were a lot of people that didn’t like him but it was because he was so cool and had a lot of money.

And after the first chapter, Eugene had decided he wanted to be just like Flynnagan Rider when he grew up.

When Sister Beatriz finished reading it, she got up to put it back on the shelf and pick out another book.

“Can you read it again?” he asked before she could reach the bookshelf.

Sister Beatriz turned around. “Again? Are you sure?”

Eugene nodded, his face breaking out into a wide smile.

“All right, if you say so.”

And she started it all over again and this time, Eugene would stop her to ask questions. What did nuance mean? Why would Flynnagan not accept Sir Grisham’s duel? How did he get all his money? Why did all the women in the book love him so much?

The third time they read through it, Sister Beatriz had Eugene read a paragraph per page.

The fourth time, he would read one page and she would read the other.

The letters were still jumping around and they wouldn’t stop moving. It helped when Sister Beatriz brought out some paper for him to block out all the other lines so he could focus on the one line he was reading. But it was still hard sometimes, but not once did Sister Beatriz get mad at him for getting a word wrong or hit him on the back of his head when he took a long time reading one word.

By the sixth time, Eugene was reading the book on his own. Still stumbling over a few words, but he was reading better and was actually starting to make sense of most of the words.

When they finished reading it the seventh time, Sister Beatriz closed the book and placed it in his hands.

Eugene took the book towards the shelf, but Sister Beatriz stopped him.

“You can take it.”

Eugene turned to look at her. “What?”

“Take it with you. Keep reading it. I know how much you love it. It’s a gift, Eugene.”

Eugene stared down at the book. No one had ever given him a gift that was just for him, one he didn't have to share with all the other children at the orphanage.

He looked back up at Sister Beatriz, unable to believe it. “Really?” he whispered.

Sister Beatriz nodded.

With the book held tightly to his chest, he ran up to her and gave her a big hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!”

He carried the book everywhere with him, always reading and re-reading it whenever he could.

A week after he had the book, he was sitting on the bench under the oak tree at the front of the orphanage. Arnwaldo was playing in the dirt beside him, making toy guards out of sticks.

He was so engrossed in the book, when he felt a hand shaking his arm, Eugene actually jumped.

He looked over to the kid who interrupted his reading time.

It was the new kid. Eugene couldn’t remember what his name was, but he did know that his parents died in a carting accident and that he was little, but old enough to remember who his parents were.

Eugene tended to stay away from the kids who could remember their parents. He had no idea who his were and didn’t like it when the other kids would talk about their lives before they came to the orphanage.

“What are you reading?” the little boy asked him.

“A book,” Eugene replied, already sticking his nose back into the book and trying to find the place where he left off.

The little boy shook his arm again.

“What?” Eugene looked back at him.

“What’s it called?”

“ _The Tales of Flynnagan Rider._ ”

“Can you read it to me?”

“No,” Eugene quickly answered. He didn’t like reading aloud. The only person who he would read aloud to was Sister Beatriz. And this little boy was most definitely not Sister Beatriz.

“Please?”

“No, Go away,” Eugene said as he shrugged his arm away from the little boy’s grip.

Then he heard a sniffle. “It’s ‘cause my daddy would always read stories to me…”

Eugene looked to the little boy, who’s eyes had filled with tears. He looked at Arnwaldo and saw him watching them both with wide eyes.

And he remembered Sister Beatriz’s words from all those weeks ago.

“But more important than any of those things, you are kind.”

Eugene let out a deep breath before motioning towards the empty space next to him on the bench. The little boy immediately climbed up, snuggling close to Eugene.

He cleared his throat once the little boy was settled and flipped all the way to page one. “Chapter one. Flynnagan Rider was a ss…swashbuckling rrr…rooo…rogue…”

Two weeks later, all the younger kids gathered around Eugene’s bed just before Sister Beatriz turned out the lights for bedtime. And he read to him all the adventures that Flynnangan Rider had.

And not once did they laugh at him when he stumbled on a word or got his letters mixed up.

Mr. Hughes was wrong. Eugene was not an idiot.

* * *

_20 Years Later…_

Eugene climbed off of Max and stared at the home in front of him. His home for the first twelve years of his life.

He watched kids running around and screaming and laughing.

He could easily remember sunny days in this same yard, him and Lance playing with the other kids, cheering on Lance while he had his hopscotch tournaments, sitting against the oak tree (that had doubled in size since Eugene was last here) and reading his favorite book, The Tales of Flynnagan Rider.

But an unbidden memory came to his mind.

_"That boy is an idiot! Nothing but a life of crime awaits him!"_

Eugene swallowed hard and reminded himself that no, he was not an idiot.

But Mr. Hughes had been half-right about one thing.

He did live a life of crime.

Sure, he was a reformed criminal now. But that life of crime would always be a part of his past.

And suddenly, Eugene didn’t want to go in. He had no idea if Sister Beatriz was still alive, but a part of him didn’t want to see her. Because he was sure she had found out about his Flynn Rider persona and he knew she would’ve been so disappointed.

“Eugene? Are you okay?”

He blinked, coming out of his thoughts and looking down at Rapunzel’s hand on his arm. He was Eugene Fitzherbert again. He wasn’t Flynn Rider. He sucked in air through his teeth. “You know, sunshine, I don’t know if this is a good idea. Why don’t we just head back to the castle? I mean, no one’s seen us yet and-“

“It’s the princess!!!”

Eugene groaned as he heard a squeal from one of the little girls running in the yard.

Rapunzel giggled. “You were saying?”

They walked hand-in-hand towards the orphanage, Rapunzel immediately bending down to be at the children’s height as she easily started a conversation with all of them.

A woman came out of the house, drying her hands on an apron and making sure her headpiece was in place. She rubbed her hands together nervously as she approached them. “Princess! Oh, this is definitely an unexpected surprise.” She curtsied as Rapunzel stood up again. “Sister Angela, at your service. Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Oh, no, we just came for a visit. We won’t be here too long,” Eugene answered.

Rapunzel elbowed him and Eugene winced a little. She cleared her throat. “Actually, we were wondering if there was a Sister Beatriz here?”

Sister Angela nodded. “Yes, of course. She’s in her study right now. Would you like to see her?”

Rapunzel nodded eagerly and held onto Eugene’s arm as Sister Angela led them inside.

The orphanage hadn’t changed at all. There had been touch-ups with paint and new furniture, but it still looked exactly like it did twenty years ago when he ran away with Lance.

Eugene paused as they passed the dining room and looked at the back wall.

Sister Beatriz used to line them all up and take their measurements against that wall. He walked towards it and saw his measurements, right next to Lance’s.

Eugene touched the lines. He would’ve thought Sister Beatriz would paint over them after they had ran away.

But here they were.

“Eugene?”

Rapunzel blinked and looked to see Rapunzel standing at his side, Sister Angela watching them with her head tilted in curiosity.

Eugene let out a deep breath and looked back to the wall. Rapunzel followed his gaze, her own fingers tracing the lines as well.

“You were kind of short as a kid.”

That was the last comment Eugene expected from Rapunzel. He turned to stare at her, his mouth open in protest. The words died in his throat when he saw the teasing grin on her lips.

Eugene rolled his eyes, a smile on his face too. He laced his fingers through hers and they walked back to where Sister Angela was waiting for them.

They climbed up a flight of stairs and walked all the way to the very end of the hall, where Sister Beatriz’s study was.

Sister Angela knocked before opening the door. “Sister Beatriz? We have some, um…unexpected guests that would like to speak with you.”

She stepped aside so Rapunzel and Eugene could walk into the office.

It was smaller than he remembered.

But his eyes only dwelt on that for just a second before looking at Sister Beatriz.

She hadn’t looked up yet, glasses perched on the edge of her nose as she scribbled something down in a book. “Yes, can I help…you…”

Her eyes were wide as she did finally look up. She blinked a few times and Eugene gave her a nervous half-smile. “Hey Sister Beatriz. Long time no see?”

Sister Beatriz stood and…

She was shorter than Eugene remembered. Maybe Rapunzel did have a point about him being a short kid.

Her face was lined with wrinkles that became more apparent when she took her glasses off, sliding them into her gray hair.

Despite how she had aged, her eyes still held that same warmth and care.

“Eugene?”

“The one and only.”

Sister Beatriz hadn’t even looked at Rapunzel, leaving Sister Angela completely baffled. She slowly walked towards Eugene, tilting her head back just slightly once she was in front of him.

Eugene rubbed the back of his neck, not entirely sure if she was mad or happy at seeing him.

He and Lance did run away and he remembered that whenever someone ran away, Sister Beatriz would always get so mad.

But now he wondered if it was because they were running towards a world that they weren’t prepared for and she knew the heartache they would go through.

Eugene swallowed hard. “I’m, um…” he shrugged. “Sorry about taking off like that. Lance is too, I mean, Arnwaldo, but he was actually kind of too scared to come and-“

He stopped talking when she reached a hand up and cupped his cheek.

“I knew you’d come back,” she said softly.

And Eugene hunched over just a little so he could envelop this woman that was the closest thing to a mother he had in a hug.

* * *

Even though Sister Beatriz welcomed him back with open arms, she still gave his arm a hard pinch. “You boys should never have run away!” she reprimanded. “And then of course you started going by Flynn Rider!”

“But I’ve been reformed!” Eugene protested. And at this, he pulled Rapunzel close to him. “Sister Beatriz, this is Rapunzel. Rapunzel, Sister Beatriz.”

Finally, Sister Beatriz actually noticed Rapunzel, giving a quick curtsy, but Rapunzel pulled her into a hug. “Eugene’s told me so much about you!”

“Oh? Then that means I’m going to have to tell you all about Eugene.”

“No, there’s really no need…”

But Sister Beatriz and Rapunzel were now walking arm in arm out of the study.

She gave Rapunzel a tour, telling her stories of Eugene and Lance, with Eugene adding in his own comments and claiming certain things never happened.

Eugene told Sister Beatriz almost everything that happened to him after he ran away, his life of crime, meeting and falling in love with Rapunzel, all of the botched proposals, and now their current wedding plans.

To which they were personally inviting her to attend. The whole kingdom of course was invited to the celebration, but the ceremony was only open to a certain few (hundred, because Rapunzel was friends with everyone). Sister Beatriz was one of the few people Eugene himself actually wanted to invite to the ceremony.

While Rapunzel was playing with the kids, Sister Beatriz said she wanted to go ahead and give Eugene an early wedding present. He protested, saying she didn’t have to give him anything, but she stopped him.

“I was always going to give this to you when you came back,” she said, before getting up to go back inside.

Eugene waited outside, staying in his spot on the bench under the oak tree.

He smiled, watching Rapunzel and seeing just how amazing she was with kids.

Part of him still couldn’t believe that she loved him too and was actually going to marry him.

Sister Beatriz came back and handed him a book as she sat next to him.

“You kept it?” Eugene asked, his eyes wide as his fingers ran over the gold lettering on the cover.

“Of course I did. It was yours and I knew you were going to come back one day.”

Eugene opened the book, flipping through the worn pages. The letters still jumped around, not as bad as when he was younger, but enough to still make reading difficult.

But he didn’t need to even look at the words. He could still recite this book by memory.

Sister Beatriz was called inside to take care of an issue in the kitchen. Eugene continued flipping through the book a little, until a little girl came and sat next to him.

She wiped her nose with the back of her hand and Eugene didn’t even try hiding his disgusted expression.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“It’s a book,” he answered, unable to take his eyes away from her hand that was full of the snot she wiped away.

“Can you read it to me?”

Eugene blinked, staring at this little girl with her expectant blue eyes. He gave a small sigh, pulling out a handkerchief and properly wiping her nose and hand clean of the snot.

“The Tales of Flynnagan Rider,” he started. He opened the book to the first page. His eyes hovered over the beginning words of the story.

And then he closed it. “You know what? I’m going to tell you a different story. This is the story of how I died.”

The little girl’s eyes widened with worry and she gasped.

“But don’t worry,” Eugene quickly said, raising his hands to ease her. “This is a fun story, and the truth is, it isn’t even mine.” He glanced over to Rapunzel and for a moment, their eyes met. She smiled at him brightly and waved.

He smiled back before looking to the little girl again. “This is story of a girl named Rapunzel. And it starts with the sun...”

**Author's Note:**

> Also, Eugene definitely picked up his Spanish at the orphanage. Another head canon I want to explore one day!
> 
> Translation: Ay mijo, que voy hacer contingo? - Oh, my boy, what am I going to do with you?
> 
> Follow me on tumblr! nachocheese-itsmycheese.tumblr.com


End file.
